Have you ever turned trash into gold? OK me neither. Have you ever seen someone take something bad in their life and turn it around for good? Yes, me too. What someone meant for evil, someone turns for good.
A couple weeks ago my friend Romesh sent me the picture shown above. He said “the light reveals beauty in what at first appears to be a pile of waste.” He went on to say “this is the story of my life!” Can you relate? This incredible project called “Dirty white trash” is by the 2 provocative artists Tim Noble and Sue Webster. They took their own trash for 6 months (how long it took to make the piece) and transformed it. Noble and Webster have also used dead animals for their art (189 to be exact):
trash from the Thames, ordinary household items:
and even aluminum cans shot with pellet guns. QUITE EXTRAORDINARY!
In the right hands, chaos, confusion, and brokenness become beauty. What was someone else’s careless abandon became a treasure. This is a lot like real life.
Everyone has greatness inside.
Everyone has potential inside.
But often it’s hidden or covered by a rough exterior. Shine the light in the right place and this potential is unlocked. God does extraordinary things through ordinary people. Broken people. Confused people. God loves to take a scar and make it a beauty mark. He loves to take things that were meant for evil and turn them for good. But it takes some time. And it takes some work. Some of those sculptures took months and even years. How to make beauty out of trash? Find the desired parts. Wait if necessary. Move the light around into all kinds of new places. Have a vision for the way things could be. Look for the beauty within. This is the same with us. It takes a while to make brokenness and confusion beautiful. But God is in the business of making beauty out of broken. Beauty takes time.
“The true work of art is but a shadow of the divine perfection. … Every block of stone has a statue inside it and it is the task of the sculptor to discover it. … The marble not yet carved can hold the form of every thought the greatest artist has.” – Michelangelo
This is the potential that each of us have inside. Greatness waiting to be discovered and unleashed.
“The greater danger for most of us lies not in setting our aim too high and falling short; but in setting our aim too low, and achieving our mark.” –Michelangelo
Some questions to end on:
- Where do you get your self-worth from? Do you believe you have potential and beauty inside?
- Do you have eyes to see greatness in other people? Are you helping to unlock and unleash it?
- Is there a situation in your life that looks like trash? Are you willing to take the time it needs to turn it for good?
What other lessons do you see in this art?